Tear gas flowing through the narrow streets of Marseille, fresh blood on the pavement and fans being punched so hard their heads hit the concrete beneath them. This wasn’t football. This wasn’t a peaceful night out in the south of France to mark the start of Euro 2016. Instead, it was a first hand showing of the taboo that many in football refuse to accept still exists: hooliganism at its ugliest.
There was always a sense among the raucous England fans watching the latter stages of France’s Euro 2016 opener against Romania that an outbreak of violence was about to happen.